Donald Morgan artist lecture!

I really enjoyed hearing Donald talk about his work! He was my painting teacher last term and it was really interesting to hear where he comes from as an artist rather than a teacher. I have great respect for Donald. I was particularly interested in his Oregon forest stump cement pours. He called them Middle Nature. I went and looked at a few more of them online. When I originally saw them in class I thought they looked like geodes or some sort of natural rock formation that was small scale. Now I see an aerial view of stonehenge or something much larger.

The way he made them was very bad ass. Not only was the process really interesting (and life threatening) but the outcome was incredibly beautiful and couldn't have been created any other way. He made up his own form of pit firing sort of. In my own artwork I really enjoy creating an original process that I feel has never been fully explored. It seems like Donald has the same interest in creating a new methodology for his art creation.
He can somehow approach an issue like "drunk vs stoned" or "poop log" and still treat it with dignity. He sees the humor in it but still approaches it with a certain level of seriousness I liked that he put an emphasis on his study of other artists in history as well as his artist friends.

Beautiful Losers film trailer

sculpture art

I thought our class discussion today (Thursday) was amazing! I have rarely had such a lively and passionate class discussion. Very cool. Props to Ty for leading that.  We started off the class talking about the role of the studio. I was thinking in terms of what I've always seen it as. A cluttered place to be messy and paint. Tanaz brought up the idea that the studio is political. I have to disagree here. I understand what she was going for. I would agree more with Barbara in saying that ART is political rather than the studio. Once the art is created it can be seen however the viewer intends it to be seen. Political may be how you see that. But, inside the studio it is about the artists intent. It is about the creation of the art rather than the art itself. This is not political. If anything it is more psychological than political.

I do appreciate that she is challenging the concept of her space. This is absolutely relevant because she is a sculpture artist, and space is her medium.



Okay. I love this. "Giving value form." So perfect. I have rarely heard such an all incompassing way of describing art. I like this because if a person finds value in a leaf they find on the ground then that is art. But at the same time it could be used to describe a painting, a performance, or any other avenue of expression. It's interesting to think of this statement in contrast with its transverse. Giving Form Value. When you put it that way it puts the word value in terms of monetary value rather than personal value. These two conceptions of value must find a way to relate.



For some reason I couldnt post it along with this entry, but my visual element to this post is a preview for the film Beautiful Losers. One of the people in general caught my attention along the idea of the art world as a commmercial market. It was the asian guy who did a pepsi ad. He was talking about how instead of treating the commercial world as separate from your art world, just give the commercial world exactly what you're doing on your own! It's a great way to bridge that gap and still get paid for it. I don't think it's selling out if you stay true to what you truly love to do.

Terri Warpinski

Terri is cool. I want  to take a class from her. I liked how intelligent and well spoken her presentation was. She kept my ADD brain focused for much longer than most people are capable of doing! I think the main part was that her work was really awesome. My favorite things were the black and white photographs that she took oil paint and other drawing materials into. Her photographs looked like drawings to me. I think because photography is so constantly surrounding us in advertising I'm less inclined to appreciate it in a fine art context. Terri's work felt manipulated enough so it had it's own individual feel to it aside from most other photography.

I liked that she took inanimate objects and treated them as figures. She had one example of this in a picture of trees. The trunks were so rounded that they felt like hips of a bodacious lady. Love it. Another example was an image she had of lounge chairs on a beach. Not only did the chairs have a human impacted impression to them, but they were radiating a vibrant yellow color that showed strong life force as well.

Terri said one of her favorite quotes was, "Chance favors only the prepared mind." I like this because it's basically telling you to have an open mind. As an artist, many avenues will be presented to you and you must be open enough to accept these chances. Also, some aspects of life can be seen as a burden or a blessing. The chances you take are strongly dependent on how your mind is grasping life events.

I also liked when Terri said that when she was in school she didn't see a purpose to studying things outside of art because she didn't see how they would apply to her work. Not until her artwork directly brought her back to these areas of study was she able to devote her mind and energy toward studying these things like botany, geography, or cultural history. I have found this to be true in my life as well. I see and base my interests on what I feel directly applies to my art, and I hope that in the future my studies come as full circle as hers did.

I thought Terri was cool because she seemed very open to learning. A friend recently told me that if you're not learning, you're not living! And if you're not living, what is there to make art about? So keep learning.

 This is an image of wheat pasted photography by the street artist JR. He takes a similar tactic of presenting real life through photography and not overly aestheticizing it. The main purpose is to learn from this work and to have a greater understanding of cultural differences. One of Terri's photographs had wheat pasted images on the walls of a building in Poland that reminded me of JR's work as well.

Her ideologies relate to the reading titled "Breaking out of the White Cube". In the article they are talking about gallery art as being seen as separated from real life. It is seen as "higher" than average life and idealized. Terri's work does not do this. She captures a space and attempts to tell it's story and background rather than focusing purely on anesthetizing an environment.  She does take beautiful photography, but there is a purpose to her work beyond just their beauty. The reading quotes, "The aesthetic attitude implies a break with the world and the concerns of ordinary life; its premise is that art and real life are, and should be strictly separated." Terri beautifully combines the aesthetic with real life.

Ron Graff Artist Lecture

I know that I'm writing this post late but I want to write it anyway because Ron Graff is a very important person to me.

I have Ron for drawing as well as painting class this term. I have a lot of respect for him and he's one of the best teacher's I've ever had. At the end of his lecture, I asked Ron a series of questions. I was so excited about hearing his background that I didn't realize it was somewhat inappropriate to ask him that many forceful questions during class. After the lecture I went to his office to apologize. He said, "You don't have to say anything." Then we began discussing his lecture as well as many other things. He said something that I thought explained why he's so successful. He said that through his years he has learned to be very accepting, yet still very critical. If a student wants to put in the effort, Ron will help you move forward to becoming a better artist not depending on how you see art. But at the same time, during critique he says exactly what he feels. If he doesn't like a painting, he will say so. If you're really bad at some aspect of painting, he will feel free to say that to you. The way he says it is not offensive, but rather pointing out an area that is under developed and needs honing. To some this could seem a bit harsh, but once you realize his intentions it begins to make sense.

What I also appreciate about Ron's ability for acceptance is not only in terms of art, but also within people. Probably gained from so many years of teaching, he has a very deep understanding of his students. I tend to put up a very tough, showy front, and Ron immediately saw through that and called me out on it. I liked that because it allowed me to take off some of my front and feel more open to creating my art. There also have been times where I paint too much and lose track of all other aspects of my life. I don't do my homework or go to class, I just stay in the studio and paint! Ron told me that sometimes you need to go out and party and make mistakes! He's right. Sometimes you have to step away from even the things you love the most in order to remember why you loved them in the first place.

I find Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Pena's performance totally fantastic! I see a relation between this performance and Ron's outlook through a disinterest in the common need for acceptance in the gallery setting. Ron doesn't prefer to show his work in a traditional gallery setting. They both see it as a flawed system. The artists performing "The Couple in the Cage" felt similarly, but responded to it differently. I also see very opposing ideas between Ron's outlook as apposed to Coco and Guillermo. Ron is very traditional with his painting style and outlook. He seems to paint more for refining his craft and as a challenge and form of meditation and thought. He doesn't specifically have a message he's trying to tell, other than emotional connections he may have to elements of the painting. For example, the pink color in his painting reminded him of his wife's sweater. I thought that was so sweet. Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez Pena are very obviously trying to prove a point to the audience by forcing you to feel uncomfortable by their live presence in the gallery space. It raises questions on traditions our country has held, and makes you feel directly responsible

I feel very lucky to have seen Ron's presentation of his work! He was my favorite presenter yet.

Eco-art! It's the approach that matters.

Colin Ives seemed like a very kind man which made me immediately comfortable and open to hearing him out about his artwork.

Right now what I'm learning in all my art classes seems to be connecting to form a unifying concept that I'm still struggling to grasp within my own practice. Subtlety. An artist does not have to scream every opinion they have. They can delicately and gracefully present something to the viewer and allow them to come to their own opinion about the subject. This relates to more than just art practice. This relates to how an artist, or just a person, interacts during their daily life. I am a very forward and forceful person. If I want something I will do everything within my power to get what I want. If I have a strong opinion about something, I will push my views on others in a way that is probably very overwhelming. I always saw this as a good thing. If you feel passionate about something, talk about it passionately! But what Colin made me consider was that speaking out of passion and raw emotion may not be the best way to get your idea across to viewers. This is a problem that I saw within the reading for this week. Tact should be considered in the approach.

This concept reminded me of an artist that I'm currently studying in my drawing class, Pierre Bonnard. Particularly in his drawings, he is very delicate with all of his marks. At first glance, his drawings may seem childish and flat, but at deeper consideration you can understand the true skill and vision behind this mans work. My teacher asked me to draw in the style of this artist and I had a very difficult time! I was so used thinking about drawing in the typical Western sense. My drawings had a foreground, mid ground and background. Shadow and value contrast, with the focal point being the figure if one is involved. In Bonnard's work, he allows the viewer to be a part of the atmosphere created in the drawing. He welcomes you into the environment, but doesn't force your eye where to look. It is a very gentle approach that doesn't put so much pressure on the viewer.  There is a respectable, gentle grace to this that I see Colin has been able to grasp within his work as well.

Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947)

Le Parc Monceau
Etching on laid paper with Arches watermark, 1937. 

Signed in the plate. Edition 500. 

13 x 10-1/4 inches.

P.S. Does the artist have a responsibility? No. The artist doesn't individually have a responsibility within their art. You can create whatever you want! Because of this, art is responsible for talking about things not discussed anywhere else. The lack of responsibility is what leads to this. Absurdity at it's finest! How can you not love it?

What's art?

"I began to see how the model of the lone genius struggling against society, which has been the philosophical basis for Western culture, has deprived art of its astonishing potential to build community through empathetic social interaction." (Suzi Gablik, Pg 16)

I understand where Suzi is coming from with this perspective, especially after attending art school. I do feel as though she is over simplifying the cliche of an artist here. From my experience, artists tend to be very thoughtful people who are considerate of the world around them. This means loving the beauty of life, while empathizing with how intensely dark and horrible it can be simultaneously. To be considerate of these things is a struggle. If that struggle is misconstrued as a cliche then that is unfortunate.

To deny the fact that artist communities do in fact exist is odd to me. I recently took a glass blowing class which taught me so much about working with other artists to complete a single piece of work. Glass blowers have to work in a very tight social environment because if team members are not on the same page while working with hot glass then it can become very dangerous. How it works is one person is leading, while they have one if not many more helpers assisting with blowing the glass, keeping the main artist's arms from burning, as well as many more complicated actions. In my opinion, this is deeply empathetic because without understanding the intentions and feelings of the artist leading, the assistants would have no way of helping. Another example exists here at the University of Oregon. Every Saturday, painters and drawers come together to do live drawing of nude models. Now having experienced this I know how empathetic this situation truly is. If the model is upset or has a bad attitude, all the artists are able to pick up on this and it makes drawing much more difficult. And when the model is truly feeling what they are doing, every artist in the room is aware of it and the drawings usually express this. Between artists during an experience like this, there is an understanding of proper curtesy toward the model as well as toward each other. Even if it is not spoken, the artists are working off one another and it is absolutely a communal experience.

My vision of the artist is very broad. To me, an artist can use any profession as an outlet as long as they use creative and thoughtful methods to create or complete the task they are posed with. An engineer building a sturdy bridge is an artist. A teacher figuring out creative ways of connecting with students is an artist. A homeless person writing interesting signs to collect money is an artist. The only thing that differs between these people is the medium in which they have chosen to express themselves. There is not one personality for an artist. How I see it is each personality finds the right profession or style to properly express themselves the way they see fit. A painter may be a more isolated person, while an actor may be a much more extroverted social person. Different types of artists connect to their communities differently.

I think it probably took more than one lone genius to create this bridge that I perceive to be a piece of art.

After seeing Ty Warren's presentation of her work, I was very deeply effected. I left the classroom and had to just walk around for a while to fully absorb what I had experienced. I deeply respected how honest she was with her work. She said that she is very transparent with her teaching methods, but I also see this within her artwork. For me, creating art is something I do to let out all of the strong emotions both light and dark within me. It's easy to forget how exposed this leaves the artist. I felt like by seeing the path that Ty had taken with her work, I could easily see the mental state she was in during all of these times.

Her earlier works dealt a lot with facing what Suzi is speaking of in the quote above. A denial of the conventional idea of what art is and how it is perceived. I feel like this is a phase that all artists must go through in order to expand how they see art. First understand how the world sees it, then realize you don't necessarily agree with that view, then fight it. Soon you realize that fighting won't solve anything. What you really need to do is just show the world how you actually see it. I think it takes this process in order to come to that conclusion though. Her early work says FUCK YOU, then after she gets that out of her system, the true emotion shines through. The piece that effected me most was the push ups. How can you say that there isn't an empathetic social community in art after watching something like this? As our entire class watched that video, we all felt different things, but we were all connecting and attempting to feel as Ty felt during this experience. I see that as a community.



For people who are unable to understand art. You may say that I have an elitist view, but I think that they just don't care enough to make the effort. It is the same with any subculture. There are those who understand it and live for it, and there are those who pass it by without any consideration. There are even those who hate it out of lack of understanding. I don't think that this necessarily means that artists need to change the way they work in order to better publicize themselves.